Reunions and Revelations…
60. An Antic Disposition
Darkness, driving rain… it was unthinkable to leave Katya outside.
'She couldn't come any closer because of the wards,' Bill pointed out. 'We need to scout the area. She can't have gone far.'
'She might have returned to wherever it is she came from?' suggested Oleg.
'It's obvious where she came from,' Draco muttered. 'That windmill…' He threw an accusatory look at Niko. 'You dropped the portkey. Brings you to the edge of the wards, doesn't it?'
Niko looked a bit sheepish. 'We didn't see anyone there.'
'There was someone at the window,' Hermione pointed out. 'It might have been Katya… Which also means that's where Tom Bennet's based,' she added, almost to herself really – but it was a logical conclusion. It was where she'd seen Sylvestra and Tom together.
Bill was already splitting everyone into smaller groups and they headed out into the rain.
Harry stuck with Draco. 'Why don't you get the kids back to Folkvangr?' he suggested to Hermione. 'You look beat.' He side-eyed Draco. 'I'll look after him…'
Draco was kicking his shoe into the rain-sodden ground. His expression was a strange blend: frustrated, disconsolate and concerned.
Niko walked Hermione, Parvati and the children to the end of the drive and they Apparated home.
Once the children were in bed Hermione set to making coffee for Niko and Parvati. She fancied it might be a long night. She was thinking about Rose… had she seen Katya lurking in the bushes or was this yet another instance of unexplained prescience?
She had a chance to ask her when she popped downstairs to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.
'Are you okay?' Hermione asked – more tentative than usual.
Rose swept her voluminous red hair from her face. She looked solemn and fragile in her nightgown with her bare feet poking out of the bottom.
'The little lady… she's like the rainfall.'
'What do you mean by that?'
Rose shrugged. 'It's how she feels…'
'She's Magda's mummy.'
'Oh!' Rose looked surprised. A fierce look scuttled across her face. 'She won't take her away, will she?'
'I – I don't think so…' The thought filled her with dread. 'Did you see her before we did?'
Rose scrunched up her nose, thinking about this… 'Sort of… the feeling changed.'
'But did you SEE her?' Hermione pressed.
'I always have.' She sipped her glass of water, gazing at her mother over the top of her glass with wide, watchful eyes.
'What do you mean by that?' Hermione asked a little more ardently – and panicked – than she would have liked. 'How long is ALWAYS?'
Rose thought about it. 'The way you can have a dream but your eyes are open.'
'Is there anyone else you see like that? Somebody we don't all see in the usual way?'
Rose considered this. 'There were the eyesin our old house… And there's the lady. The other one.'
'Which other lady?' Hermione asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
'The one with the long, long hair.'
'What colour hair, Rose?' Hermione felt like crying. 'Like… my colour? Brown?' She flipped a ringlet with her hand. 'Or blond like Aunty Fleur?'
'No,' Rose said firmly shaking her head. 'Black.'
DOLORES….
'And wheredo you see her?'
Rose began to look flustered. Her eyes shifted to the open kitchen door. 'I'd like to go to bed, Mummy. Parvati's reading me and Scorpius a story and I don't want to miss out.'
'That's nice…' Hermione made an effort to smile. She folded Rose into her arms and kissed the top of her head.
But Rose stopped at the doorway. 'I'm not scaring you, am I, Mummy?' She looked bereft at the thought.
'No! Of course not!' Hermione laughed.
'But you're very scared.'
Hermione stared at her. 'Well… I am. A little. But… everything will work out in the end… The BAD WIZARD got locked up today!' she added cheerfully.
Rose gave her an enquiring look. 'But that's not who scares you, is it?'
Hermione suppressed a shudder. 'Parvati will be onto the next chapter before you know it!' she said in jocular tones.
Once she'd left she returned to making coffee, the mugs rattling as she pulled them from the cupboard because her hand was shaking uncontrollably.
'She'll be fine,' Niko said behind her. Odd, Hermione thought. His German accent always seemed so much stronger when she wasn't actually looking at him. 'It's something you get used to.'
'You have it?' Hermione finished up making the coffee, her movements quick and brisk. She resented talking about 'it' at all… it felt like an unwanted intrusion.
'Nothing like Rose… I'm not sensitive enough to make use of it, whereas she's remarkably attuned.'
Hermione spun around and presented Niko with a mug of coffee. 'Divination is bollocks. Nothing's happened already. Life is linear. It chugs along from one second to the next.'
Niko grinned. 'Well, that's not true, is it? Your personal experience of time is utterly subjective. Entirely different to a blade of grass or a hedgehog or a mayfly… Or a volcano…'
'But that's not even ALIVE!' Hermione scoffed.
'It evolves. It has movement. It's subject to forces… over time... a very different time-scale to what we can comprehend.'
Hermione sighed… she had so many other things to be worrying about. What would Draco do when he found Katya? How would he feel?
'And there's no such thing as a single point in time that we can call a second, either,' Niko said, sipping his coffee. 'Any moment already comprises the past and the future within itself… so to say time is a linear succession of seconds is nonsense, because they're arbitrary. They don't really exist.'
'No, Niko… there are single points in time,' Hermione said heatedly, annoyed to be wasting time, capacity, having to even think about this. 'There's the single moment your heart stops for the last time. One moment it's alive and beating and the next moment it's still and dead… and the sun goes up and down every day regardless of who or what you are… And anything that may happen on any of those days that hasn't happened yet cannot be foreseen.'
'Oh, I agree!' Niko said, looking offended that Hermione could have ever attributed such baseless nonsense to him. 'All that stuff with tea leaves and crystal balls is diddly-shit!… True divination is observation... You already have it with people, Hermione. Your magic is driven by empathy. Rose has that, too. But she has it for places as well. Possibly objects.'
'Objects?'
Niko seized a spoon that had been left on the counter. He held it in his hand and then passed it to Hermione. 'See? It's warm…'
'Yes, because you were just holding it.'
'Exactly. I've left a trace of myself. I imbued it with energy. It'll fade... But if I was made of lava, my trace would be different... hotter for longer - possibly transformative. Someone like Rose can sense these traces… even SEE them.'
'She was scared of going to The Blue House,' Hermione admitted.
'I doubt she knew exactly what was going to happen,' Niko said with a reassuring smile. 'But she discerned a high probability that something could… Maybe she picked up on all the funny little feelings and undercurrents and magical auras we're constantly putting out? Maybe something bad happened there before, leaving its own trace? Events have a funny habit of replaying themselves. Her gift is to quickly process multiple layers of information - stuff us mere mortals don't see - and make brilliant, calculated guesses.'
Hermione pondered this a moment. Put like that, Divination was almost interesting! An exercise in predictive analysis.
She studied his face. Was he just saying this to make her feel better?
'Why does she think Draco's wife is like rainfall?' she asked, her voice quavering.
'Because the rain can spoil a day in the sun?' Niko suggested brightly. 'She senses your uncertainty and Draco's dread.'
That seemed reasonable, Hermione thought. However… 'She says she's ALWAYS seen her. And she also says she sees Dolores.'
'Dolores?' Niko looked confused. 'The one who works for Salvedra?'
Hermione nodded. 'Katya's keeper.'
Niko's face darkened. 'I once had a vision like that… I was a child and I saw a man's face.'
'Did you ever find out who he was?'
'Oh yes! He was the man who killed my father.'
'So you met him?'
'For sure,' Niko said with a peculiar half-smile. 'He was Saul Jeroboam…'
The sound of footsteps and voices from the living-room drew their attention.
Gunter, Elizaveta and Henrik… Niko joined them and Hermione refilled the kettle.
Draco was right, she thought. Katya had probably found Niko's portkey. But what if she hadn't? What if she was deliberately sent here?
The thought niggled inside of her. One way to check was to enter the paintings, she thought. Head to the windmill…
She slipped a coat on from the hallway, abandoning the kettle, and exited the house from the front – she didn't feel like explaining to the others. She skirted the house and re-entered via the gate that led to the fields. The wind was blowing a wet squall into her face and she was glad to get inside the shed where the paintings gleamed faintly in the darkness.
She flipped the radio on. Brahms Fourth… she thought of her mother.
And then stepped into the paintings, leaving herself sitting on a bench abutting the shed wall.
Katya, she thought… but nothing.
She thought about the painting of the Rose Garden. Again…Nothing. For her, it had to be a person.
Sylvestra… she was immediately hurled through a blizzard of shapes and colours… straight as an arrow… and was standing in front of the thin, grey veil that separated the rose garden from the room Katya had once occupied.
Someone out of shot was pulling the room apart, grunting in frustration…
'What happened?' Sylvestra screeched. She moved into the centre of the room. Her face was contorted with rage and Hermione pitied whoever she was venting at. 'You were meant to be guarding her!'
'I went to the farm to warn that there were soldiers coming? We saw them in the lane and—'
'That wasn't your job!' Sylvestra shrieked. 'Your job was to watch my sister.'
'I'm sorry,' the voice replied. A young man. A candle flickered on a table scattered with papers and Hermione caught a glimpse of his face. It was Jervis Scrimshaw, the Blaster who'd hit Thelonious in the Atrium. He must have legged it from the Ministry when the riot broke out.
'It won't happen again,' he whimpered.
'No, it won't!' Sylvestra snarled, eyes blazing. She flicked her wrist and Scrimshaw blinked in shock as a deep dark gash ripped across his throat, unzipping his head from his body.
Hermione gasped in horror as blood cascaded down his torso and his head tumbled to the floor with a heavy thud, followed by his body. Despite her incorporeal state, Hermione could feel her gorge rise.
'What a bitch,' Niko said beside her.
'When did YOU get here?' she asked, heart a-flutter with surprise.
'We guessed where you'd gone,' Gunter said on her other side. Revulsion flickered across his face as he looked through the veil and she could feel his redness – a searing, heated scarlet.
'What's she looking for?' Gunter asked, as Sylvestra frenziedly rifled through the papers strewn on the desk.
Sylvestra growled in exasperation and scrunched the papers up.
'Something she can't find...' Niko observed smugly. Sylvestra turned to face them, eyes black. Hermione pushed Gunter and Niko downwards…
'She'll see us,' she whispered.
When they looked back the room was empty, still… Hermione's eyes were drawn to the metronomic movement outside the window - the windmill's sails journeying round and round.
'I'm going to go in and get those papers,' Niko said boldly.
'Careful,' Hermione advised. She didn't imagine Sylvestra had roamed too far, but Niko was already unfurling himself to his true height and gathering up the papers on the table.
'He's a hot-head,' Gunter explained… 'He's got company.'
Hermione could see a lean shadow cast on the wall close to Niko… 'Get back to Folkvangr!' Gunter instructed - and a large, black crow was flying around the room, squawking manically. Niko spun around and the shadow-man pushed him backwards against the table.
Gunter resumed his human form and hurled a bolt of magic at the shadow... Asusto crumpled to the floor, too shocked to stay invisible. He quickly shoved Scrimshaw's body into Gunter's feet tripping him up and then unleashed a spell that whirled Gunter around like a tornado, high into the air, pinning him to the ceiling.
Hermione wondered if she should intervene… Niko had hoisted open the window. He snapped his fingers and Gunter span in the opposite direction, an ever-decreasing blur of black, until he was flying through the open window, Niko close behind.
Asusto looked disoriented and then revolted when he realised he was drenched in Scrimshaw's blood pooling on the floor.
He jumped to his feet and dashed to the open window…
Hermione had a peculiar prickling sensation at the back of her head. Someone, something was watching her…
She furtively glanced at the tall bushes set to the side of the pathways and the statue… A slinking, insidious movement.
She could sense eyes, like jet-black jewels staring out at her… waiting, watching…
Dolores had said he didn't want her like THIS; unreal, lacking substance… consciousness rendered in light. So there was really no need for the jellied sensation that suddenly robbed her of the power to move or think straight…Except. Part of her WAS real. Something about her was flesh and blood.
MOVE. She told herself. Anywhere. Anyone…
A rustle, a twitch, and the thicket shuddered…
She flung herself forwards – a purple haze, a streak of light – narrowly avoiding a dense, black collision as an almighty, overwhelming burst of dark energy spiraled through the painting, scorching the roses and exploding the glasshouse in its wake.
She felt caught in a rushing wind. Tendrils of smoky-grey looped and whirled around her, trying to capture her in-flight.
Where can I go? she thought.
WHO?
But nothing came to mind.
HELP! She screamed in her head to no one. SOMEBODY! ANYBODY!
She catapulted forwards onto a slick, green lawn and flew headfirst towards a house…
She knew that house.
'Get in here!' cried a familiar voice.
She forward-rolled through an open doorway landing beside a towering fireplace. A staircase loomed behind her and she was facing a door. She looked left and a dark, endless, cavernous room reached into the shadows.
A door slammed shut and feet scampered towards her.
'Hermione… are you okay?'
'PADMA?'
XXX
Hermione could barely believe it... Padma. Here... Body and soul.
Padma steered her towards a table and chairs. A corridor stretched right, leading to nowhere.
'Where IS everywhere?' Hermione asked, eyes round with wonder… the darkness that pervaded most of this interior was oddly elastic, swooping and shifting. There was a faint light glowing from the landing at the top of the stairs.
'Oh, it wasn't properly painted in – just the front bits,' Padma shrugged. 'It's fine. I'm used to it now.'
A fire burned in the imposing fireplace emitting a warm, friendly glow that lit up Padma's face.
'Oh my,' she said, 'I've so much to tell you and I KNOW you have so much to tell me.' Padma's eyes were brimming with tears.
She told Hermione how Tony had wanted to meet her to discuss some very important news. They met at the Folborough Hotel but were immediately captured... and she wound up in the cellar at Malfoy Manor.
She was chiefly visited by a 'miserable-looking sod' as she called him – Karl – and on one occasion by a beefy-looking man who scowled a lot. He worked for Arcana.
Troy… Hermione thought.
And then there was Sylvestra. Padma recoiled mentioning her name.
'She did this to me,' she sneered. 'It was just a game to her. I was her plaything!'
'Do you know what happened to Tony?' Hermione asked.
Padma sadly shook her head. Hermione told her that Tony had also been trapped into a picture and was now in America.
Padma told her that Tony had confided he was involved in a secret operation … She was shocked to hear that Hermione already knew all about this operation as it was designed to intimidate her and Draco in Argentina.
Padma was non-plussed by this… 'So, it's true? You worked with Draco Malfoy?' She'd been puzzled by some of the things she'd overheard at Malfoy Manor.
'It was even more extraordinary watching you DANCE with him! You even seemed to enjoy it!'
'DANCE?' But of course. 'View from Folborough Hill' had been on display at Ephraim and Narcissa's wedding.
'Draco's wee boy. He's a tragic child,' Padma sighed softly.
'He's not now!'
'You know him?'
'Very well…' Hermione told her how Parvati was involved in caring for Scorpius – almost legally bound after Astoria dumped him - explaining why and how this had happened.
'I've such a lot to tell you,' Hermione agonised, trying to summarise events as best she could - not dwelling too much on Draco. There was time – she hoped – for that…
'I once saw you and Draco in this painting,' Padma told her. 'I was upstairs… there's a small area where I can actually move around… I've made up a bed-of-sorts and I have a candle. I try to keep hours. A routine.' Padma petered into self-deprecating laughter. It was then that Hermione sensed her loneliness… palpable, aching. And her heroism for not having gone completely bonkers…
'Your painting's not too terrible,' Hermione said cheerfully. 'Green. Pleasant.'
'Oh, it's drab,' Padma sniffed dismissively. 'There's some beauties, though I can't STAY in them… It's strange. As long as I know I'm passing through I can travel anywhere I like in this weird picture-world.'
Hermione was amazed. 'But you're FIXED, Padma! How do you even leave this house?'
'I didn't. I was too frightened.' Her large, dark eyes fell into shadow. 'Sylvestra visited me a couple of times - sitting where you are now, wearily looking at her nails. And then she stopped coming and I suppose I got bored – or brave – or a bit of both, and I started to go outside and bit by bit I ventured further.' She grinned at Hermione. 'I've seen you and I've even seen Parvati when I look out...'
'She misses you terribly.'
'Can she come and see me?'
Hermione shook her head. 'I have a certain type of magic. It allows me to come and go—'
She stopped short, realising what she'd just said…
'I've tried to leave. Countless times,' Padma sighed. 'But I can't. I think the caster of my fixing spell has to die first.'
'We can live in hope...'
'I've seen Harry!' Padma chirped up. 'With Draco a couple of times… Are THEY friends now, too?'
Hermione nodded and smiled. 'They're looking for those who are trying to hurt us. That includes Sylvestra… but also a rather frightening woman called Dolores and Salvedra… he's possibly the most frightening of all and he chased me today. You rescued me from him.'
Padma's face curled into dark loathing. 'I know him,' she said in a low hiss. 'He wanders through my painting sometimes. He takes no interest in me, thankfully… He gives me the creeps.'
A thought occurred to Hermione. 'Padma…you could really help us here! You can see who comes and goes and you can move around … although I'm still not understanding why. For me to be here right now I need an anchor. A constant outside of the paintings… I don't see how-' but then it struck her. 'Oh Lordy! It's because you're a TWIN! It's because of Parvati! You have your very own walking, living, breathing, beautiful anchor... And that gives you freedom you wouldn't normally have when fixed into a painting.'
She could barely wait to tell Parvati…
Padma blinked at her, dazed. 'Wow! You're really super-chuffed about this, Hermione! You're actually glowing!'
Hermione looked at herself. Draco...
She dashed to the window. There was a sinuous pillar of shimmering white cresting the hill…
She immediately flung open the door. 'DRACO!' she cried.
He was at her side in moments. He looked distraught. 'Fucking hell, Hermione! Where were you? I've looked everywhere!'
'I was in Malfoy Manor,' she said excitedly. He lifted his eyes to the rather shoddily-painted rendition of his former home, a quizzical expression on his face. 'Padma saved me from Salvedra… PADMA!'
His face cracked into a smile.
'Come and say hello… Did Gunter and Niko get back? They had trouble at the windmill.'
'They got back ages ago... they're fine. They'll drop by later.'
'Did – did you find—?'
'No… We reckon she's scarpered.' He didn't look too upset by this she noted.
XXX
Hermione woke up with Draco's body pressed warm and demanding against her. His mouth was nuzzling her neck and his arm was across her body, his hand stroking between her legs.
She sighed contentedly.
'Morning, beautiful…' His voice was husky, ragged in her ear.
She was too turned on to think straight and offer a coherent reply, whimpering as he dragged his lips across her bare skin. He gently nipped and tickled her until she was gasping with laughter.
'You sod,' she said, nudging him away playfully, but he levered her leg up and unabashedly stared down at her, a curious glint in his eye that made her blush with self-consciousness.
'Are you INSPECTING me?' she giggled.
'Uh-huh.'
'What is it? Have I mutated?'
'No…' His fingers gently probed and explored her, sending quick lightning bolts of sensation flickering through her. 'You're sort of blue…'
'Blue?'
'Well… purplish-blue.' He raised his eyebrows at her, his eyes twinkling. 'It's a sign of pregnancy.'
'NO, Draco!' she exclaimed, clamping her thighs together onto his hand. But he was a persistent bugger and he nudged her open again, trailing kisses from her knees down her thighs.
Close-up, he studied her intently, his breath blowing hot against her.
'You're such a SAD FUCK,' she grinned. 'Delusional!'
'We have to face the fact that your uterus has been literally besieged by sperm on an almost-constant basis,' he said impishly, '… and you really ARE blue.' He bit his lower lip as he ground his fingers deep inside… 'In here.'
'Oh. Well that's EVIDENCE,' she said sarcastically, as his fingers gently teased her. 'Though… I – I'm rather liking your sexy medical exam. Don't stop…'
'I've no intention of doing so,' he said hoarsely, swapping his hand for his mouth… Before long she was writhing and biting her pillow…
'And you taste different… thought that the other day actually…'
'In a good way?' she panted, half-dreading…
'Gorgeous… always gorgeous, but…' He dipped his head for further evidence, '…sweeter,' he sighed, his voice tremulous with longing. He gazed at her, his whiteness irradiating like moonbeams dancing.
'I think – I think a deeper examination is in order,' she sighed, her insides turning over.
He didn't need further encouragement, surging towards her, swamping her with his warmth. She arched in response to the feel of his hands as they glided over her body and when his fingers brushed against her nipples they were instantly hard and aching.
'You're VERY sensitive,' he breathed, his eyes hot and glowing, chest heaving.
His mouth closed over her breast. She sighed as his tongue swept across her nipple; liquid warmth – both soothing and sensual, and then they locked mouths and their bodies were intertwined and he drove into her with a throaty groan and they were making love with impassioned urgency.
He suddenly pulled back, electrified…
'What is it?' she gasped.
'Too turned-on…'
She laughed. 'Is that what pregnancy talk does to you?'
'Yeah…' he grinned, eyes sparkling, 'just the thought of fucking impregnating you makes me… horny as hell.'
'You fucking Neanderthal!' she said, bursting into laughter. 'And - would you still want me if I was ACTUALLY pregnant?'… voicing a silent fear…
'God, yeah…' he said between gritted teeth, heat rising. He swiftly rolled her onto her side in a single brisk movement, tilted her leg upward to afford him access, and thrust into her to the hilt, deep and hard - eyes closed, savouring the feel of her.
'I'd - I'd think you were the sexiest fucking thing in the whole fucking world…' he stuttered breathlessly… and a blindingly pure white flash of arousal surged through them… She ground herself against him, desperate to relieve the weight of tension built up inside of her.
'And you ARE pregnant, Hermione.' His voice was an intense, low whisper. She could feel him trembling. 'I can sense it...' She looked back at him and his eyes were glazed with lust - and for a moment their bodies shimmered, a flash of starry white enveloping them. She gasped at the rippling sensation as they combined, the shift of feeling, like a singular, loud chord of music resonating deep within them…
XXX
As was often the case when they made love in the morning, Hermione felt dreamy for some time afterwards. Reality felt like a rude awakening.
'Picked these up from the windmill… fancy they were drawn by Draco's wife,' Niko declared, slapping a wad of papers onto the dining table.
'They're very nice,' Gunter said, studying a drawing of Draco and comparing it with the real, live man as he thumbed through the pictures, a look of concentration on his face.
Parvati and Henrik had taken the older children to the park. There was a vague plan to visit Wisteria Cottage as Scorpius had never been.
Magda was sitting on Hermione's lap, arms around her neck. She sighed contentedly and rested her head on Hermione's shoulder, still and watchful.
'Who's still a sleepyhead this morning?' Hermione cooed, holding her close.
The thought of Katya taking her away screwed Hermione's insides into a tight ball, but she was her mother – it was only right.. but there was no denying it to herself, she was bonding rapidly with Katya's child.
'Has anyone looked for Katya this morning?' she asked.
'We flew around first thing… no sign of her,' Gunter said mournfully. He was hoping to meet his sister… 'I think Draco's right. She came with the portkey. But then she saw Draco – and took fright.' He looked at Draco apologetically. 'I don't meant that unkindly. But she's probably nervous… I know I would be!'
Draco maintained focus on the drawings…'I wonder why she's drawn some of this stuff?' he mused. There was a drawing of her painting of a dog that had been left at Madam Puddifoot's… and even a picture of Madam Puddifoot herself.
'Detailed guides?' Hermione suggested - disappointing, if true, as that meant Katya had volunteered information. She'd always presumed Sylvestra would have to use Legilimens.
'Maybe she was enchanted to draw these?' Gunter murmured. 'I mean, there's something strangely… compulsive about them.'
He looked at Draco uneasily. Most of the pictures were of him… The same look, same pose (vaguely thoughtful and distant-looking) – remembered precisely and repeated - over and over.
Draco pushed the drawings away. 'The question is – has she now returned to the windmill?'
'Not this morning,' Gunter remarked. 'The room we were in last night's untouched… they haven't even bothered to remove that chap's body. He's just lying there… in pieces.'
'Was there anyone else at the windmill last night?' Draco asked.
'The one you're all shitting yourselves over.. the pig man!' Niko replied. 'He was outside talking to that lawyer guy … skinny chap with greased dark hair.'
Hermione looked at Draco. 'Torquil… I wonder if Ephraim knows he's switched sides?'
'Maybe Katya's gone back to Malfoy Manor?' said Gunter.
'Would be tricky with the wards. Ephraim changed them.' Draco anxiously chewed his lip. 'She might try, though. But it's not good for her to wander about aimlessly. She's obviously not very well. Vulnerable…'
'We'll flyover later,' Gunter said, 'but if the wards live up to the legends, any surveillance will be limited.'
'We should ask Ephraim what the wards are,' Hermione said to Draco.
'He's a bit busy today,' Draco pointed out. 'Confessing in the Wizengamot to fictitious crimes…'
The front door banged and the children charged into the living-room.
'We were in the park and John Cunningham said we could play football,' Hugo yelped.
'And Jenny Slater was on the swings,' Rosa said. 'They're on halfterm.'
Hermione was relieved to see Rose animated and - dare she say it – normal.
'Jenny invited me to her house for a playdate! Is that allowed?'
'I'd be happy to take her,' Parvati said. 'Her mum was nice.'
'And they're having a fete and doing a play – a big play in the park, Mummy!' Hugo said, literally jumping up and down in excitement. 'Can we go?' He looked between Hermione and Draco.
'When is it?' Draco asked.
'It's a summer fete – and we're in summer now, aren't we? Even though it's been raining. So it must be soon.'
'They're doing the Rattenfanger… That means The Pied Piper,' Scorpius said, proud that he knew this.
Magda extended chubby arms to Hugo who hauled her, a little inelegantly, off Hermione's lap. 'Well, if all's well…' Hermione glanced at Draco and the others – more out of hope than reason, 'it might be nice to do something summery like that.'
Parvati grinned. Hermione hadn't seen her this sunny in ages… Even though her sister was trapped in a surreal magical world, the news she was alive – of sorts – and able to communicate, had cheered her up.
Henrik gazed at Parvati with what Hermione could only think of as rapt adoration. Hermione smiled at Draco… Oh for such harmless, happy moments, she thought, as Hannah and Neville charged into the house with looks on their faces that could only possibly mean disaster had struck yet again to blight their world.
'Leaky Cauldron… totally fucked-up!' Hannah announced. Her face was hard and angry.
'Trashed. Aurors everywhere!' Nevlle asserted. 'Guests traumatised. They even killed the cat!'
'WHAT? What cat?' Hermione asked.
'Billy,' Hannah sobbed. 'There was no need…' Parvati folded her into her arms, while Henrik was shooing the kids into the garden. Rose looked back, a tragic expression on her face.
'Who did this?' Draco demanded.
Hannah shrugged. Her face was pink and blotchy. 'Monsters. Wearing Masks…'
'Like Deatheaters,' Neville said. 'Not sure if that was deliberate or just that creepy-looking masks AWAYS look like Deatheaters, but that's what was said.'
Draco's hand instinctively moved to the dark scar on his arm.
Niko plucked a drawing from the pile he'd stolen from Bennet's windmill. 'Maybe they were looking for THIS?' It was Katya's Matryoshka. At The Leaky Cauldron.
'If they're looking for Anna's papers then it's possible I suppose,' Draco agreed, 'following the same thinking we did.'
'Except, they already knew the Matryoshka didn't contain the papers - Katya must have told them - otherwise why go to Madame Puddifoot's to look for the painting, which DID?' Hermione opined. She followed her own thinking to its logical conclusion… 'So… either they didn't believeKatya and thought the Matryoshka was the key – or, they were checking to see if we'd already taken it…'
Everyone looked at her.
'They were trying to deduce if we worked out Katya's clue,' Draco said with a sigh...
'But why trash the joint?' Neville asked.
'To double-check… and because they're cunts,' Draco griped. He looked at Hermione, his mouth tight with worry. 'This means they know we got to the papers first... Hermione, Bill and I have talked about a Fidelius charm at your parents' house.'
Sooner rather than later, she thought... Binta and Anna's papers were there. They needed the highest possible protection.
XXX
The sky was a peculiar lurid green, Hermione thought. Like the sun had been sick.
'Right. Not sure how long the weather's going to hold,' Gunter said, gawping at the sky, 'but if we're going to perfect this colour-magic simulation we need all the practice we can get…'
He looked at Hermione, Draco, Nico and Harry assembled before him on the paddock lawn at the Burrow. They'd drawn spectators. The kids were ogling from the sidelines with Ron and Molly watching on. A smart young man with a clipped blonde beard – the young French assistant who Hermione recognised from a couple of Gilgad corporate events at the opera and Queerditch Marsh – smiled winningly at her. Pascal Loubetier, the missing member of Troyanda13.
'I'm kind of struggling with this,' Niko admitted. 'I know I sound like a barbarian, but rather than ponce about with false pictures to capture Salvedra, couldn't we just whack him? Together we are very strong!'
'He's stupendously powerful. When he challenged me in Egypt, it felt like every bit of me was on fire,' Gunter retorted.
'And that place he'd created at Atalaya,' Harry murmured. 'One man did that! Beggars belief… To be honest, I don't think we've actually seen what he can do when he fights nasty.'
'We don't want to,' Hermione said. 'That's why we have to nullify his colour-magic.'
'Yeah, but even without colour-magic, I somehow doubt he's just a bog-standard wizard. And we know he's behind pretty much all this shit that's gone on. He has to be destroyed. Decapitated. I'm happy to try and take him out any way that works, frankly,' Draco said.
'Decapitated?' Niko said, eyes like bloated blueberries… 'So we DO fight mano a mano?' He looked quite excited about this.
'No,' Hermione said snippily. 'He means as a strategy.'
'Take out the top man.'
'Yes. And we have to make sure he's isolated from his supporters while we're doing that...' She shuddered thinking about Josep – he was more powerful than any single one of them… And she sensed immense power in Dolores, too. Something ancient, primordial. 'I don't think we'd survive trying to take them all on,' she continued soberly.
Niko shrugged, insouciant. 'Colour-magic is whatever you want it to be.'
'No, Niko,' Hermione said sternly. 'It's still limited by your own personal capability.'
'You say that because you're used to thinking small… with your fussy spells and incantations… colour-magic is FREE…'
'We can still do wandless magic!' Hermione said defensively. 'And colour-magic's a bit… overwhelming, frankly. Less controlled.'
'I prefer it,' Draco said.
'Hey! It's not a competition!' Gunter said. 'As you know… I use both. And you do that as well, Hermione. And this I think is very helpful.'
'How did you two do the glowing thing at the beach with Sylvestra?' Ron asked from the sidelines, squinting between Hermione and Draco. 'Your magic went mad! Was a bit scary, actually.'
'We've talked about this already, Ron,' Harry hissed in what could only be construed as a note of warning.
'What glowing thing?' Niko asked, eyes bright with curiosity.
Ron lumbered over. Hermione could sense Gunter's irritation as he looked at the darkening sky with a worried eye.
'They were being attacked and they glowed white and … to be honest, Hermione, you went apeshit!' Ron gave her a wary glance as he spoke.
Niko looked very animated. 'I've heard about this sort of thing! It's very rare! Your magic gets all mixed-up?'
'Yes,' Draco said in sullen tones. Like Hermione, he clearly felt this was a private matter…
'Both your boring magic and colour-magic, together?'
Hermione instantly bridled. 'It's not BORING… it's targeted and—'
'But it's not PURE,' Niko retaliated in taunting tones… 'When do you have this mixing thing?'
'I – I don't really know,' Hermione said. 'Various times…it's unexpected.' She found herself blushing hard thinking how it sometimes happened when making love. She was horribly aware of Ron – a large, hefty presence beside her – and the children and Molly across the garden.
'Obviously when under attack,' Gunter suggested.
'Yes, this is a protection bond,' Niko said, 'protecting yourselves or something, someone you love…' He looked at Hermione and burst into cackling laughter. 'And from the look on your face, Hermione, it can also be when you…you know.' He winked mischievously at Draco and banged his fist hard against his hand. 'Too strong, Draco!'
'Oh that's just… YUCK!' Ron said, looking outraged.
Hermione felt the same… in fact she genuinely felt like throwing up… 'Excuse me,' she said, running into the house.
By the time she emerged from the bathroom everyone was in the kitchen. The front door was open and rain was drumming hard onto the path leading to the house.
Gunter had a face like thunder. He was berating Niko in German.
Draco was talking to Pascal who turned to Hermione. 'Good to meet you finally – as in, properly.'
'Pascal's staying in contact with Ephraim,' Draco said. 'Pretending he's a lawyer.'
'Oh?' Hermione said, taken aback. 'Does Ephraim know this?'
'Yes,' Pascal said. 'He wants me to be a go-between.'
Hermione looked at Draco and could see he was similarly stumped.
'First thing he could do is tell us the wards for Malfoy Manor,' Draco said. 'That'd be useful.' He fixed Hermione with a worried frown as Pascal was drawn away by the lure of Molly's Dundee cake. 'You okay?' he whispered.
'Just felt a bit…'
'Sick?' Draco asked, raising a single eyebrow.
'Shut up,' she gently chided, elbowing him. But she couldn't stop smiling for some reason. 'Oh dear! Gunter and Niko are really going for it!'
Luckily Molly was to hand and was now snatching their plates of cake away like they were naughty children. 'If you're going to make such a row you can do it outside!' she yelled… much to the actual children's amusement.
'Come on,' Hugo said to the others, looking upstairs, 'Magda's awake… I just heard her!'
Hermione had to smile. Young Madam had Hugo wrapped round her little finger…
Gunter and Niko mumbled their peace… although Gunter's eyes flashed a particularly vivid red when he looked at Niko.
'I just wanted us to practice holding a colour-magic projection – a trial-run before we entrap Salvedra,' Gunter said testily. 'Because it's really rather difficult to do and we need to get on with this as soon as possible.'
'Use the living-room,' Molly said, pushing them out of her kitchen.
It was a tight squeeze but the five of them who could use colour-magic were soon working on a wrap-around projection, simulating a dark, lightless space.
'The aim is to ensure there is no light at allcreeping in or Salvedra will be able to use colour-magic and spin off someplace else – which is why we need the simulation to be reflective on the inside,' Gunter said… 'think black mirrors.'
After a few attempts everyone had to take a breather.
'We're all thinking different things!' Harry complained. 'I didn't think there could be so many variants of black nothingness.'
'It's kind of difficult to imagine total blankness,' Draco agreed. 'It's like wishing yourself dead.'
'So it's best we have one person imagine this black mirrored box, this deadness… and everyone else just feed them their energy to support the simulation,' Gunter decided.
'Who?' Hermione asked.
'It doesn't matter… we just want a black mirrored box.'
'Why does it have to be a black box? Why not a flowery meadow? Or a cabbage field?' Harry asked. 'As long as it blocks light…'
'Because we need to trick him!... Okay…let me explain.' Hermione grabbed a sheet of parchment and a quill and sat down on the floor and sketched a square labelling it El Sol y Ter. 'Here we have Sylvestra's house. I saw Salvedra there the other day.'
Harry nodded.
'We know of two paintings that are portals between this house and picture-world. One is a volcanic wasteland - seeing as we'll have to be our physical selves, that's too dangerous.' She shuddered at the memory. 'The other painting is a castle – accessed by a dark, shadowy passageway… no distinguishing features. Which is why a black box works. We need Salvedra to enter that space and think everything's normal…that way he won't have that split second to think himself OUT of the box.'
She drew a straight line to indicate the crossover-point between the real world and the picture-world's thin shaded passageway and drew a big black box, tucked just inside the picture-world.
'Great,' Niko said, watching this attentively. 'But how do we get Salvedra from there,' he pointed to the house, 'to here?' He jabbed his finger at the black box.
'We need to smoke him out… I'm talking to Muggles in Europe about launching an attack,' Draco said. Hermione drew a stickman with a rocket in his hand outside the house. Draco smiled. 'It'll be more than that…'
'But if he's threatened, he'll just disapparate,' Harry said in matter-of-fact tones.
'Obviously we set up anti-Disapparition jinxes first…' Hermione said in a tone that suggested she thought Harry was being disappointingly obtuse.
'He's the kind of bastard who'll fight back if attacked,' Harry murmured. 'And he's unlikely to be alone!'
'We have to strike when he is… or… as alone as possible…'
'And how do we do that?'
'Well. Padma's agreed to help out… she can travel around the pictures... If she lights a candle in the window at Malfoy Manor that means Salvedra is at El Sol y Ter. One or two of us then need to physically enter the house to check who's there and decide if we're good to attack. We then rally the troops..'
'…including the Muggles,' Draco added.
Harry looked as queasy as Hermione felt. 'Right. Well. It's a tough task… but obviously I'll go into El Sol y Ter…'
'Whys that obvious?' Gunter asked, genuinely puzzled.
'I've got an invisibility cloak.'
'But for the plan to work, whoever goes in has to be seen… to lure Salvedra into the picture. It's a classic bait and switch,' Draco said, aware that everyone was looking at him and no one looked happy. 'Which means… for Salvedra to be sufficiently provoked to follow someone into the pictures it has to be someone Salvedra really wants.'
Hermione sighed, thinking about Salvedra's attempt to grab her. 'It has to be me.'
'No it doesn't,' Draco remonstrated. He gave Gunter an apologetic look. 'I was actually thinking of Gunter! Salvedra's an arrogant tosspot who's hung up about this bloody curse he cast on Anna, wanting her children. Gunter's the kid who got away.'
The reddish glint in Gunter's eyes faded. 'It's true … so I will be the one who goes into the house and lures him out.'
'I'll be your backup,' Harry said in stolid tones. 'If – and this is all scarily dependent on the entire thing going to plan - we have Salvedra chase Gunter though the portal, how does Gunter then help everyone else sustainthe blasted box we're using to catch him? Even with all of us trying, we're struggling to hold it... And how does Gunter then get out once he's led Salvedra inside? He won't be able to use colour-magic. He could get trapped!'
Gunter thought a moment. 'I would need to make a copy of myself - like a hologram - that Salvedra follows while I stay back…problem is… I can't do that. We did it with Saul using a hybrid techsolution but I doubt that'd work in picture-world.'
'Ican do it!' Niko announced boldly. 'I can pretend to be you - for a few minutes at best - and then project a copy of myself running through the picture into this box – a bit like one of your patronuses, but in full-blown technicolour. Catch is... that projection's fairly fleeting... but it's better than nothing.'
'But it'd mean you have to be in the house too, Niko! At this rate that's THREE of you in the real world leaving me and Draco to produce and hold this damned box on our own! I'm not sure we can do that!' Hermione cried. She was feeling annoyed with herself for not foreseeing this potential problem.
'You CAN hold the box,' Harry said thoughtfully. 'You can combine magic.'
'I – I don't feel secure doing that, Harry. We've only really done it deliberately that time in Egypt…'
'Then we have to practice,' Draco said, accepting their fate with an encouraging smile.
'As soon as Salvedra's in the box, the rest of us can help to collapse the projection into Ernie and Fleur's picture,' Gunter assured them.
'And then the fucker's sealed in, good and proper,' Draco sneered, relishing the thought.
XXX
Seeing as the kids were in safe hands, Hermione decided to leave everyone to work through the plans while she headed back to Folkvangr for a rest.
'I'll walk back with you,' Ron said, jumping up from the kitchen table where for a worrying moment Hermione felt he'd been waiting for her.
'Hermione,' Molly clucked, a concerned look on her face. 'You didn't eat any lunch.'
Hermione smiled weakly even though she was genuinely touched that Molly still cared to say this. Her forbearance was remarkable - but then she'd noticed that Molly was much friendlier to both herself and Draco since the attack on The Blue House. Brothers and Sisters-in-arms, she thought wryly.
'I'm just not that hungry,' she said apologetically. She glanced outside where a shard of golden sun – the prelude to sunset – was striving to break through stormy grey clouds overhead. 'The rain's stopped so I'll make a move.'
She walked as quickly as she could, Ron at her side, and they swiftly cut into the fields stretching between The Burrow and Weeping Brook Lane where Folkvangr was located.
She felt a certain dread when he began to slow a little once the roof of Folkvangr and the top half of her bedroom window came into view.
'Hermione…' he said, 'hold up a sec… we need to talk.'
She desperately wanted a lie-down but there was a slightly fearful look in his eyes that made her regret thinking that. He deserved her attention…
'Of course,' she said, slowing her pace.
'I know it's not commonly done in our world… less so than yours…' Interesting, she thought. He saw them as separate… 'But I think it's best we look for a way to divorce.'
She ground to a halt and looked at him. She hadn't expected that…
He narrowed his eyes, scrutinising her face. 'I need to know that's what you want before – before I talk to people.'
'A lawyer.'
Ron shrugged helplessly. 'Guess so… We never had an unbreakable vow, so…'
'That makes it easier.'
'Definitely,' he asserted.
'I – I'll take any blame… Because it's all my fault. You haven't deserved any of this,' she babbled.
To her surprise, Ron blushed. 'If that's okay with you? There's no point my waiting to see if you'll change your mind and see that you've made a huge mistake because… well, I'm not sure you're going to do that. And – even though I still love you, Hermione, I don't want to be married to you anymore. I realised that almost as soon - as soon as it happened.'
To Hermione's surprise her eyes welled up and a rush of hot bile shot through her gullet into her throat. 'Ron... sorry but...' She turned away trying not to be sick, but dry-retched all the same, before sinking into the damp grass. It was so high, she was almost hidden from view.
Ron's knees and the bottom of his jeans were splattered with wet streaks and the bulging heads of overgrown grass gave way as he sat down in front of her.
He reached out and took hold of both her hands.
'And that's the other reason I think we need to divorce…' he said, his voice gruff as though he had phlegm trapped in his throat.
'What is?' She braved a smile.
'You being sick.'
'Sorry, I'm not following… but then I'm not following much these days. Feels like my brain's gone to mush.'
'Yes, it does that when you're pregnant.'
She stared at him. 'I'm not… at least I don't think I am. I've been drinking tea.'
Ron looked at her in utter confusion. 'Hermione, even you yourself have said that all these lotions and potions don't always work… We might be MAGIC but our body bits still work like bodies.'
'Well, these potions DO work, Ron. We only have two children and we weren't exactly shy in the bedroom… at least not in the early years of our marriage.'
'Yeah… And we also lost two… Our having ridiculously good immune systems has its downside – you told me that at the time, remember?' He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows.
'I've also bled,' she said bluntly.
'Bled or… proper period?' Ron asked. He was uncomfortable talking like this, she knew. 'Because you also had that with Rose… We went to Luna's wedding and you thought you were off the hook and okay to drink and then you felt guilty for bloody months afterwards! Convinced yourself Rose would have two heads or something…'
He was right. She had bled early on… it had been similar. Even so… 'What makes you think I'm pregnant?'
'You mean other than you looking shattered and being sick a lot?'
'Yes,' she said softly.
'Well... you turned down mum's chicken stew. You always went right off poultry the moment you fell pregnant.'
'Maybe I wasn't hungry?'
He smiled and stared at their hands. When he bent his neck, the grass was so long only the top of his red hair was visible. It was strangely quiet down here with just the sounds of a bee idling by, a blackbird fluting on a tree and the distant chug of a lorry accelerating out of the village.
'Go ahead and get all verified and checked-out and whatever, but I know you are, Hermione. And mum does, too… she's got an eye for that sort of thing… You forget I've known you FOREVER. And I plan to know you forever more. And… the guy who's known you forever KNOWS.'
She put her hand to her forehead and burst into tears but was laughing, too. Ron handed her a handkerchief because she'd blown her nose all over her face in confusion.
'Oh god. Maybe I am.' Draco was right… 'There was an… accident, I suppose.' She thought back to the time in her parents' house when she was 'between' solutions… 'But I thought I'd recovered it in time.'
'With a bloody cup of tea?' Ron shook his head and his mouth twitched.
'Draco thinks I am.'
'Bet he's in a right lather,' Ron said warmly, snorting with laughter. 'It's both painful and delicious to see how he is around you. It's almost tragic how much he's in love with you, Hermione. You could destroy the man.'
She looked him in the eye. 'I won't, though.'
Ron's exuberance faltered. 'So why are you in denial about the fact you've brewing a baby Malfoy?'
'I just – I can't believe it, really…' She looked away. It was suddenly warm and the grass and the hedges were steaming like a mirage and there was a sheen of sticky sweat on her face and pooling at her armpits. Even so, she could sense a churning sky above them, ready to switch back to rain and clouds at any moment.
'You must hate me,' she sighed.
'No. I hate Draco…. But I can see you're in love with him. Just the fact of WHO he is and what you've still gone and done proves that!' He winced in advance of what he was about to say. 'And… I mean it when I say I love you, Hermione, but even if it went wrong with you two, I wouldn't want you back. Because I think you'd still love him, and I don't want to be Malfoy's sloppy seconds.'
'Well that makes it easier for me to be honest back, Ron… I'll always love you too. You're the father of our beautiful children and you're a good man. And – and you were my best friend…' she could feel her cheeks were wet with tears again and was relieved that his were too. 'We did so much together…But even if something went wrong with me and Draco, I wouldn't want to be married to you anymore, Ron. That's not what we are now.'
Ron held her hands again and proceeded to push down the top part of her fingers one by one. 'I know…'
'You're being so COOL about this,' she said, her voice thick with tears.
'We've got a dangerous thing going on and I can't let this ruin how we respond to it… And the kids are amazingly adjusted about it all.'
'For now…' she warned. 'They'll grow up and see things – see medifferently.'
Ron shook his head. 'No they won't. They love you. And they know I love them. And nothing changes that, not ever - except we don't live together. And it was probably a bit shit between us for a while when I've thought about it… Kids probably pick up on stuff like that.'
'It's worried me that Draco being around would upset and confuse them… but everything's so fucked-up anyway, and there's Scorpius and Magda, I don't think they've had a moment to work out what's actually happened yet,' she sighed.
'Rose knows. We spoke about it.'
'You did?'
'Yeah… it was weird, actually. She kind of helped me get my head round it all.'
'She's special.'
'Sure is… Anyway. You better tell Draco he's going to have his third child by a different woman.'
She smiled and shook her head. 'You make him sound such a man-whore.'
'He is… But he loves you. I wish he didn't. I wish none of this had happened. But he does. And it has. And – and I think he'd do anything to look out for our children. So I'm not worried he'd ever hurt them.'
'No, he wouldn't…' And she started crying again. 'I don't deserve you, Ron, I don't. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry.'
'Your glowing thing…' Ron said quickly. 'It's because you're having a baby.'
'It's – what?'
'It's what Niko said - a protection thing. YOU might be in denial, but your body isn't… and you and him 'ave got that weird magic thing going on together.'
'Please don't tell anyone till I'm sure,' she begged.
'No… I won't…' but he was distracted. He silently put his finger to his lips. 'I think there's someone here…'
Hermione could hear a small reedy voice, softly warbling, and the damp brush of feet trudging laboriously through the grass. She craned to hear the words… but no words, just a plaintive tune. Ron peered above the grass tops.
'It's Draco's wife!' he hissed.
Hermione's heart thudded in her chest. She peeked out… A short woman in a long, black cape was wandering through the grass, occasionally pausing to look up at The Burrow through the trees. She spluttered with childlike laughter and then carried on, past the house into open countryside.
Ron's eyes widened. 'Blimey. Mad as a box of frogs that one…' He gave Hermione a sidelong look. 'We should follow her. See where she goes. She might be spying for her loathsome sister.'
No sooner had they rounded the hedges at the back of The Burrow than a blinding flash of lightning lit up the fields. Purplish, bruise-coloured clouds scudded rapidly across the sky and a low rumble of thunder rolled around them.
The black-caped figure of Katya Malfoy disappeared into a clump of trees – a thin stretch of woodland fringing the river that wound around the village. The moment she vanished from view thick globs of rain fired down onto them. Hermione threw up impervius charms and they headed into the woods.
'Blimey, this is creepy,' Ron murmured, looking up at the tall, foliage-heavy crowns of the trees swaying in an increasingly agitated wind. The rustling of the leaves sounded like a chorus of angry whispers and the woods were shrouded in almost impenetrable darkness as daylight struggled to break through the clouds.
A flurry of leaves brushed up from the ground into Ron's face and his red hair was flopping over his eyes.
'I don't think it's magic,' she said, her voice suddenly hoarse and gravelly.
But Ron was blinking hard into the distance. 'There she is!'
He pointed to what looked like a black sail bulging with wind, rippling against the tide. Katya weaved unsteadily between the trees and for a moment her high-pitched singsong tune carried towards them.
Ron moved forwards, a determined look on his face. 'I've lost sight of her… Stay here.'
She watched as he pushed through the wind, shielding his face with his arm, and then he slipped from view.
Where was he? she wondered. Hermione craned to see through the trees but the black cloak was gone… Had Katya ever been here at all? Was she even real? Or was she some kind of sprite or nymph luring Ron to the river?
Hermione ran to the riverside, suddenly panicked. It was gushing and frothing with what seemed like unnatural energy… the water was black, strangely depthless. She peered beyond the trees upriver. But there was still no sign of them…
She told herself to say calm but her teeth were chattering with fear and sudden cold. She looked behind her… for a moment she'd felt watched, but there was nothing there.
She trudged upstream… nothing. They were gone…
The rain was slashing down now, a thick, grey sheet from the sky, and the thunder continued to creak and groan… a faint stirring of electricity and the air tasted tangy… Maybe there was some magic at play here?
Hermione instantly turned and ran to The Burrow.
She sprinted down the driveway and pushed open the kitchen door… and could barely believe her eyes.
Harry was sat at the kitchen table next to Pascal and Gunter. They stared at her in tense silence as she walked in. Niko was standing by the sink with Bill – when had he arrived? she wondered.
And Ron was sitting next to Katya Malfoy, looking small and wet, her face pale eggshell-blue with cold.
She was gazing fixedly at Draco, who was standing, tall and angular, by the oven. His hand tapped the surface and his entire body softened in relief when Hermione walked in.
Molly came fussing downstairs with a blanket.
'I've got this… should help,' she muttered. She stopped stock-still and her eyes locked with Hermione's. 'Ron found her in the river…'
'Where did you get to?' Ron cried. 'You completely disappeared!'
'No, I was there… you didn't come back so I looked for you.' Her voice sounded shriller than she'd have liked. It seemed louder now the kitchen was cast in shadow by the thunderous clouds clotting the sky outside.
She could feel Katya's eyes on her and didn't like it. It made her want to itch her skin…
'I think the kids want to go home,' Molly said, enunciating every word with more care than usual it felt.
'Okay…' Hermione could feel hysteria bubbling inside of her, like she was on stage and had forgotten her lines.
She chanced a glance at Katya. She was back to staring at Draco, but he was studying his mug of tea with devout concentration. She could see his whiteness shrinking as though it wanted to slither along the back wall and hide down the back of the stove.
Molly draped a blanket over Katya's shoulders. 'Come into the living-room, Hermione.' She glanced at Draco too. He quickly followed. Hermione saw that Katya's little finger curled around the handle of her tea-mug extended towards him as he passed... desperately reaching…
But then why wouldn't she? He was her husband. Her HUSBAND!
The thought struck her like an anvil in the chest. And Magda was going to turn up. She could hear light laughs and chatter followed by Scorpius's throatier, deeper voice on the landing upstairs.
'Who is it?' she heard Hugo ask in a dramatic stage-whisper.
'In here,' Molly said, brusquely closing the door.
'What the fuck happened?' Draco asked Hermione the moment they were standing in the gloom, curtains half-closed, the sound of rain pelting like bullets.. His desperation was almost screaming.
'She passed me and Ron in the field,' Hermione explained, her voice rising. 'Ron thought she might be meeting someone... he wanted to see where she was hanging out.'
'Well it's bloody odd. No sign of her ANYWHERE this morning. Gunter and Niko said they checked the river.' His hand went to his forehead and he closed his eyes and blew out his cheeks.
'We had to follow her. She was a bit... out of it.'
'Of course,' he grunted, in reluctant agreement.
'What do we do with her?' Molly cut in. Her mouth was a hard, straight line. 'We can't release her into the storm.'
'No…' Draco said. 'But I guess she - she's my responsibility. Obviously I'd rather she didn't come to Folkvangr - but we don't have a choice.' He gave Hermione a remorseful look.
'Don't be ridiculous!' Molly scolded. 'She can't stay with YOU! Not how things are... and you can't afford to lose focus! It's too important!' She looked at the old clock on the wall. 'Arthur will be back soon. I'll see what he has to say, but I suggest you get the children and go home… And she'll have to stay here.' She didn't look overjoyed by this. 'And seeing as Ron's brought her through the wards we have to keep her really…'
'I'm so sorry about this,' Hermione said, feeling overwhelmed, '... about everything.'
Molly's lips snapped into a thin, hard line again. 'Well…it can't be helped. And Gunter can help me out. She's his sister after all.' She looked at Draco, a curious expression on her face. 'Was she always so… QUIET?'
'She wasn't a great talker.'
'But not a single word!'
He thought about it. 'Yeah… When I spoke to her she was just sort of… blank. Almost like she didn't hear me. She just stared... I guess coming out of the painting's traumatised her...'
'I'll be gentle,' Molly said.
The children were clattering down the stairs and Hermione flew into a panic. 'Oh god, Magda! She should meet her...'
'Not today...' Molly said determinedly.
'But she has a right—'
'Only once we know more about what's happened,' Molly said in clipped, businesslike tones.
They hastened out and Draco braved a sort-of half-smile at Katya while gathering up the children and moving towards the door. Scorpius stared at Katya, a look of dark consternation on his face.
Harry jumped up. 'We've got things to work out…' he said. 'I'll come too.'
Hermione smiled and nodded at Katya, desperate to seem friendly and elicit some kind of reaction, but Katya was distracted by someone other than Draco for once.
Her face lit up when she saw Rose. She gazed at her greedily.
Hermione could sense Draco bristling beside her.
'Come on,' he said to Rose, reaching out his hand. Rose grabbed it eagerly, a pained look on her face, and they headed into the rain, forgetting in their haste to apply impervius charms.
'Bollocks,' Draco muttered once they were halfway up the drive and soaked.
Everyone ran to the field, rain sloshing against their ankles. The children started giggling, catching on to the adults' muted hysteria.
XXX
The Fidelius charm was finalised on the Grangers' house. Bill did the honours and cast the spell and Ziff was secret-keeper, something that had him glowing with pride.
Jean insisted everyone stay for refreshments and as it was her famous lasagna nobody was complaining. Draco, however, disappeared the moment the plates were cleared and Robert was topping-up drinks and talking up dessert.
He returned minutes later and summoned Hermione with a nod of the head.
'What are we doing in here?' she asked, once they were in her parents' upstairs bathroom.
'You know what we're doing,' he said, presenting her with a pregnancy test. 'We have to know.'
'But there's a spell I can do that—'
'No. We need hard, medical fact.'
'Oh lord.' She looked at the shiny plastic-wrapped box and quickly cast a Colloportus and a Muffliato.
She did the test and handed it to Draco with a shaking hand.
'I can't look,' she said, facing the wall.
But she didn't need to. She could feel his reaction burning through her.
She immediately burst into tears…
'But it's the worst time,' she sobbed. 'The very, very worst…'
Draco gently moved her away from the wall and into his arms. They sank to the floor and he pulled her onto his lap.
'It's not the best – but… we can cope…'
'You'll be overbearing and terrible,' she said, not caring if she wounded – 'you'll not let me do anything and we have so much to do! So much we've gotto do. There's no choice, no backing away!'
He grinned. 'You couldn't be more wrong. We – I need you. Because you're the most powerful witch I know! And definitely the cleverest. You're needed more than ever… So, I won't coddle. Even if I'm tempted. I promise. I'll give myself a talking to.'
'Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm disabled! Far from it!' she warned in sharp tones.
'I know that,' he laughed.
'And our glowy thing… it's the baby… It can help me. Help us…Oh my. That sounds so WEIRD,' she choked. 'But it's a protection. I'm sure… Oh god…' she started to cry hard now, thinking she loved him and it was all going to go to hell…. 'And Katya's back and you'll probably leave me up the duff,' she shrilled. 'The ultimate revenge!'
'Revenge for what?' he asked, looking genuinely alarmed. 'For being fucking fantastic? For being the best thing that's ever happened to me? Sorry but you've lost me…'
'She's very pretty… and you have Magda… and we did a bad thing. We hurt people…'
'Hermione. You've lost the plot. I want you, not her. Not anyone, actually… And yes we did a bad thing. I know we did. I feel bad everyday – particularly now that Ron's hanging around us all the fucking time..' He gave her a bitter smile. 'Like THAT's normal!'
'He's helping. He's been kind. He said he'll divorce me. He knows I'm pregnant.'
Draco made a great show of looking around the bathroom… 'HOW? Is he HERE?... Wouldn't surprise me 'cos he usually fucking is…'
'No… because I didn't eat the chicken stew… and I bled with Rose. I'd forgot.'
'God, you talked about that? And you're the one who's jealous?'
'I'm just… I can't help it. My brain's gone all poppity…' She clutched the collar on his shirt and gazed at him. 'Thing is, we hardly know each other, Draco.'
'That's not true.'
'No, it's not… I'm talking rubbish,' and her tone lowered. 'Because I doknow you… I just can't BELIEVE I do sometimes. How did we even get here? What the hell happened? …. And I wasn't even sure I WANTED children. Ever. ANY children. And then Rose came and I felt I had to make it symmetrical… And now I've got so many children. All these children, just – just mushrooming. And I actually love them. I love them all.' Tears flooded down her cheeks as she spoke. 'But HOW? How has that happened? TO ME? Oh god…' She wiped the tears from her face. 'And – and I hated you SO, SO, SO much… you were so awful! And then I saw the world as you do and… and…god. it's almost too intense, isn't it? it's too much - WE'RE too much! All this feeling, it's quite awful, really. Sometimes I think I'm going to blow up from the inside… and we've hurt people - selfish, SELFISH - and we carry on doing it and we can't stop because… because I couldn't bear it if we did and...'
Draco hadn't stopped laughing throughout her ranting speech. He twisted his arms around her.
'Jesus fucking god but I love you… Just… just carry on blithering, beautiful…' He kissed her on the mouth… 'because it's like the sweetest fucking music.'
She looked at him and could barely breathe, as a wave of pure excitement throbbed through her. In spite of everything, it was joy, unadulterated joy...
'I'm – oh god... I reallyam... I'm so happy,' she cried, marvelling at the rush of feeling… like a wild wave, a permissible release… flowing between them, flowing through her.
'Me too,' he whispered gruffly, and his mouth was on hers and they were falling to the floor.
'Parents' bathroom,' she croaked.
'I don't care.'
Good, she thought.
XXX
CHAPTER TRACKS:
"FOR EVERYTHING" by THE MURDER CAPITAL
"SEA WITHIN A SEA" by THE HORRORS
"BACK TO BLACK" by AMY WINEHOUSE
"JUST LIKE HEAVEN" by THE CURE
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters.
